There were multiple failure points in the failed NHL presence in Arizona. It is unfortunate that some see only lack of community support as the root cause of the loss of the franchise.
This is a non inclusive list of failure points. Please feel free to add on.
1. Location, location, location
2. NHL malpractice in choosing/ approving ownership
3. Lack of ownership expertise/ concern in building community/ government/ industry relationships.
4. Woefully inadequate funding/ building the on ice product.
5. Weak support from transplant hockey fans who would only go to games against their hometown teams.
I'll add a #6, which i think is the biggest factor: this just isn't a great sports town. I've been here for 30 years and I think the best way to describe it is "positive indifference." Most people don't have anything
against the sports/teams here, and they may even enjoy going to games time to time, but they just aren't big sports fans.
Spring Training does well here because it's a tourist attraction. The Suns usually draw because they were Phoenix's first team, so there's a sense of fan ownership from the natives. The Cardinals have a small pocket of rabid fans, but even a lot of them sell their tickets to visiting fans that escape colder climates. The D-backs play in a soulless airplane hangar, just made the World Series, and they
still can't sell tickets. The Coyotes moved to the East Valley where supposedly all their "real" fans are, and couldn't sell 4600 tickets. If you dropped capacity to 4600 in any other NHL city, you'd have people fighting over them. Even Columbus.
Even golf--a huge part of the Valley's economy--only draws fans at the PGA tournament here for the party. 95% of the attendees are only vaguely aware there's golf being played.
I don't know how I'd describe what Phoenix is, but "sports town" ain't it.